Murray Watt to overhaul environment laws Albanese once blocked

New Environment Minister Murray Watt will introduce a package of controversial reforms to parliament as soon as possible to deliver the Albanese government’s long-delayed nature protections, declaring some stakeholders will cop losses in the tough negotiations to come.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has identified environmental reforms as a priority for his second-term government, including the 2022 election commitment to create a national environmental protection agency (EPA), and Watt was selected for his track record in resolving tough negotiations.

New Environment Minister Murray Watt. Credit: The Sydney Morning Herald

“The PM has made the point that we aren’t going to simply bowl up the same bill, and that remains our intention,” Watt told this masthead.

The bill Albanese blocked last November would have created an EPA that policed big projects that impact the environment, such as mines and tourism resorts, handing out fines for breaches.

Former environment minister Tanya Plibersek was close to cutting a deal with the Greens to pass the bill in November, but Albanese kiboshed it at the last minute, amid concerns the minor party had been offered unacceptable concessions.

Watt, a Queensland senator and former lawyer, is now a senior cabinet member credited with a major role in the election strategy that delivered the Albanese government a whopping haul of seven new seats in his home state.

He said he would take a tough stance on negotiations with warring stakeholders in the mining and environmental lobbies as well as inside parliament, as the government needs support to pass its bills in the Senate either from the Greens or a large chunk of the Coalition.

“There needs to be give and take from all parties to get these reforms through, and I mean political parties, and I mean parties outside government,” he said.

Watt took his first field trip on Friday to Lamington National Park, and it is telling that his first interstate trip will be to Western Australia, where the mining industry ensures environmental reform is a hot topic.

Watt acknowledges he will need to consult and compromise with Liberals and the Greens, but argues Labor’s record election win should spur the other parties to support his reforms.

He has a long working relationship with new Greens leader Larissa Waters, while the new Opposition Leader Sussan Ley, a former Coalition environment minister, commissioned the 2021 Samuel Review that identified a need for sweeping reforms to protect nature. Ley attempted but failed to legislate the changes.

“The election result has given the government a mandate to push on with environmental reform,” Watt said. “Australians on the whole wanted to see progress on a whole range of issues, including environmental reform, and they rejected the [previous] obstructionism that we saw from the extreme left and right of politics.”

The former agriculture and workplace minister landed two of the Albanese government’s more controversial moves in its past term of government by imposing a ban on live sheep exports as well as cracking down on the CFMEU.

Watt’s success in delivering the live export ban is good preparation for the environment portfolio, given the trade only exists in Western Australia.

Watt steered the ban through parliament despite howls of opposition from the state’s farm sector after Labor won a record haul of WA seats in the previous election.

He now confronts a bigger challenge staring down the state’s mining industry, which along with Premier Roger Cook successfully lobbied Albanese to oppose Plibersek’s bill.

Labor added even more seats to its haul in the west at the election and Watt will be under even more pressure to deliver the EPA without sacrificing those electoral gains.

However, he is considering “broader reforms” compared to Plibersek’s.

The former environment minister pledged to deliver a suite of “nature positive” reforms, which included the EPA as well as reforms to the national laws under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act.

This includes national environment standards to protect endangered wildlife, no-go zones for development or mandated funding for restoration.

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